The following article appeared in the Courier News on 12/15/04, written by Larry Higgs.

Veterans get memorial back on Somerville agendaSOMERVILLE -- A veterans group has breathed new life into plans to build a plaza on the site of an old armory between the Somerset County administration building and jail, which was demolished in 1999.The latest design mirrors a 1999 plan to build a plaza with veterans monuments and flagpoles, a raised platform for concerts or other public presentations and trees on one side. Three concept plans were brought to the Somerset County Board of Freeholders last week.

The plaza got new life when members of the Military Order of the Purple Heart Chapter 27 contacted freeholders about erecting a monument to all veterans who have received the medal for being wounded in the line of duty.

"We started with them a year ago when Ken Meaney was commander; we approached the freeholders," said Ted Dima, current Chapter 27 commander. "During the course of the year, the county recalls they had old plans for a veterans plaza. I guess we were the impetus to get them to look at the old plans." The concept would build a veterans memorial closest to Grove Street, said Richard Close, design specialist with the county Engineering Department. That features a plaza with a large star embedded in the pavement, with each point representing each branch of the armed services.

"There will be space for each group to place a monument of their own," Close said. "A star seemed appropriate; it's the national symbol for the military and our country."

A larger plaza with a concrete stage would be behind the veterans plaza and would be a place for music, such as the annual summer concerts that Somerville holds, Close said.

Trees would be planted between the plaza and the county jail to give the 22,000 square-foot area a parklike feel, he said. Two concrete medallions, saved from the old armory that occupied the site, also would be displayed there, he said.

The three designs vary in size but have the same basic elements.

"It looks really nice, and it honors all branches of the service and veterans of all ages," Dima said. "It's a place where residents can sit and look back with their relatives."

The plaza idea started in 1990, before the new administration building was constructed. In 1999, the estimated price to build the plaza was $1.4 million. No cost estimate will be known until a final design is created, Close said.

If the freeholder board decides to proceed and fund the project this year, the quickest schedule could have the plaza designed during the winter, construction starting in summer and opening by the fall, Close said.

Dima said he'd like to see it built as soon as possible so some of the older veterans who lobbied for it could see it happen.

"About 70 percent of our members are World War II veterans; we hope it's done by the end of next year so the guys can see the fruits of their labor," Dima said.